Frankincense Minisode, Supplements 101

Did you know frankincense is from the Boswellia plant? Tina and Leah delve into frankincense's history, uses, and benefits, especially in integrative cancer care. They discuss how to test the purity of essential oils, the various therapeutic applications of frankincense, including its anti-inflammatory and potential anti-cancer properties, and the intricacies of using it safely.

ASCO Update on Boswellia
Aromatase Inhibitor induced arthritic pain - Boswellia, Lipoic acid, and MSM
Boswellia alongside radiotherapy for brain tumors
Boswellia for nerve pain
The role of Boswellia in post-radiation therapy for brain metastasis

Chapters

• 0:00 Excerpt from episode
• 1:14 Frankincense: History and Uses
• 4:05 Frankincense in Modern Medicine
• 6:57 How to Identify Pure Essential Oils
• 9:19 Frankincense and Cancer
• 13:07 Cautions and Considerations with Essential Oils
• 22:20 Summary and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Tina: 0:00

And the way to know it's the good stuff when it comes to an essential oil is to take a paper towel, Or a napkin. Put a drop on there, of your essential oil that you bought. Of whatever essential oil, not just frankincense. And when you come back later, you should not see that drop at all. If there's any oily residue left on that napkin, or paper towel, then it's not a pure essential oil.

Leah: 0:23

I'm Dr. Tina Kaczor and as Leah likes to say, I'm the science y one. And I'm Dr. Leah Sherman, and I'm the cancer insider. And we're two naturopathic doctors who practice integrative cancer care. But we're not your doctors. This is for education, entertainment, and informational purposes only. Do not apply any of this information without first speaking to your doctor. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast by the hosts and their guests

Tina: 0:50

are solely their own. Welcome to the Cancer Pod.

Leah: 1:09

Hey, Tina.

Tina: 1:10

Hey, Leah.

Leah: 1:11

Today is our second holiday mini episode. And we're talking about frankincense.

Tina: 1:18

Yeah, frankincense. We're all familiar with it. I talked to my mother earlier, and she's like frankincense. remind me. What is it?

Leah: 1:26

Well, some people, maybe not your mom, but some people may know of it as Boswellia.

Tina: 1:32

Yes, frankincense is the resin, the hardened resin, from the plant Boswellia.

Leah: 1:38

And Boswellia is used in a lot of formulas, that people who are into taking supplements or natural medicine, they may be familiar with that. Um, frankincense is. It's traditionally thought of, I mean, with the two things that we chose to talk about this holiday season, um, myrrh and frankincense were gifts of the Magi.

Tina: 1:59

Yeah, so in case, Christian faiths, they're known as the gifts of the Magi or the three kings or how we want to refer to that. Um, it's also used in other religious customs as well. So it is used in the Islamic faith. It's used in Buddhism. Um, it's used throughout the world probably because it's been around since at least 3000 BC as a commodity and as a ritual scent and perhaps as a medicine that long as well.

Leah: 2:27

Yeah, it's been used in Ayurveda and Ayurveda has been around for thousands and thousands of years. That's the traditional medicine of India. Um, it has been used in various formulas, for treating arthritis or coughs, ulcerative colitis, wound healing, you know, so it's a lot of kind of similar things as myrrh.

Tina: 2:48

Yeah, interesting. It's also used in, um, purification ceremonies and most of these religious ceremonies. It's cleansing and purification that it's, it's touted for in religious ceremonies. And so it's still used today throughout the world.

Leah: 3:03

Isn't that what they burn in Catholic church? What is the incense that they, they have in Catholic churches?

Tina: 3:09

You know I should know that, having gone to a Catholic school. I can picture it, I can even hear the clinking of the, of it going up and down the aisle, but I honestly don't know what was in there.

Leah: 3:18

I'm going to do the Google because I have been to like, uh, Christmas mass a few times, um, with friends, And so I'm going to see if I can figure out what the incense

Tina: 3:30

can't say, here's, here's, here's my very rudimentary thought about that, it's like, I was around a lot of that, having gone to many masses throughout my life, going to Catholic school and, and being a Catholic, practicing Catholic back in the day, um, that said, when I smell the aroma of frankincense, as in the, essential oil and we vaporize it or diffuse it, which we've done quite a bit of in my house, it doesn't smell familiar to me at all.

Leah: 3:56

Well, cause it's a common, apparently according to the internet, it's a combination of frankincense and myrrh that they burn in Catholic churches.

Tina: 4:02

Oh, that's it, huh? Frankincense and myrrh together.

Leah: 4:04

mm hmm. Yeah, I don't really like the smell of frankincense, um I remember when I was going through treatment, I was using it topically, the essential oil topically on my feet, just because I was having such bad neuropathy and I was just trying everything. maybe that's why I don't like the smell, because it kind of reminds me of that. But even then, I didn't, I would mix it with other things because I was like, it's not my favorite smell.

Tina: 4:29

Yeah, and the Murr was our last episode. Frankincense and Murr were part of what was known as the incense route, the trade route between the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean countries, what are now in Mediterranean countries. So I'm just saying that because multiple religions around the world using the same materials for their ceremonies is really kind of a fascinating historical perspective to me.

Leah: 4:51

Oh, absolutely. I like the history part of all of that.

Tina: 4:55

Yeah. so the frankincense, the way it's gotten from the Boswellia species, and there are, Boswellia is the plant, again, that's the Latin name for the plant that this frankincense is derived from. There are different Boswellia species depending where you are geographically. So the one that we're familiar with in our supplements is often Boswellia serrata, which is from, mostly from India. But there are other Boswellia species, all of which have different types, slightly different types of frankincense and different qualities, apparently, of the frankincense that are derived from the various species of Boswellia, which I only found out when I was kind of reading up on this right now.

Leah: 5:33

Yeah. Cause I only think of the Boswellia serrata. So yeah, well, I mean, it makes sense that there would be different types that would grow in different countries and have slightly different properties.

Tina: 5:42

Yeah. And just like the myrrh, this is what is gotten from the resin or the, sap. So there's a very special way to wound the Boswellia plant so that it oozes out the substance, Looks like, you know, what we think of when a tree gets wounded and that sap comes out. Looks like that, and then they let it harden on the tree, and then they harvest that. And so they know how to wound the tree. In such a way as not to harm it so that it will continually produce. It does have to be an adult tree. You can't do it to a sapling. So it's, it's quite a involved process, but clearly a very traditional process because it's been going on for thousands of years.

Leah: 6:17

And the, fragrance properties are it's earthy, piney, woodsy, and spicy.

Tina: 6:24

Okay.

Leah: 6:26

Do you, do you see that? I mean, it's been a while since I was looking through my, um, my essential oils and I don't think I have any frankincense right now. but yeah, earthy for sure.

Tina: 6:36

earthy for sure.

Leah: 6:37

Piney?

Tina: 6:39

It's interesting. I looked at some of the, uh, in the essential oil of frankincense, which is a little bit more expensive than a lot of other essential oils. A really pure essential oil of frankincense costs more than it would if it were, you know, essential oil of orange or lavender or something That can grow in abundance. it's really costly when it's the good stuff. And the way to know it's the good stuff when it comes to an essential oil is to take a paper towel, Or a napkin. Put a drop on there, of your essential oil that you bought. Of whatever essential oil, not just frankincense. And when you come back later, you should not see that drop at all. If there's any oily residue left on that napkin, or paper towel, then it's not a pure essential oil. Essential oils are completely volatile.

Leah: 7:21

That is a great tip because I think there are a lot of people who wonder how do you Tell the quality of an essential oil when there's really no like, um, I don't want to say governing body, but there's no like real way of like certifying whether something is pure or not. So that's a really, that is a handy tip.

Tina: 7:41

Yep.

Leah: 7:42

That's going to be a sound bite. I declare.

Tina: 7:47

declare. Well, except, So the boswellic acids is what the plant is most well known for, and how we concentrate them in amounts that we can have. Very strong anti inflammatory effects. Frankincense does have them, The Boswellic acids. It doesn't have it in the quantity we can put into a capsule from the plant itself. So you can harvest the plant and kind of extract a lot more boswellic acid from the plant material. And more cost effective because frankincense is more costly to produce and to, and to, uh, create the essential oil.

Leah: 8:19

And I would think to standardize,

Tina: 8:21

Yeah, I think of the elements in, in the essential oil and then there's limonene is in there. Pinene is in there. I think there's a little menthol in there. So what's interesting about essential oils is these chemical compounds like menthol, which that's one we're all familiar with. There's a little bit in, in other plants besides the mint, like menthol is classically in peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint. That's what gives it that scent of mint is really menthol. Um, there is a little bit in, in the frankincense essential oil. So I think when we look at the properties of the frankincense and what it does, you mentioned anti inflammatory. Did you mention arthritis?

Leah: 9:02

uh, that's what I know that that's what Boswellia is used for in Ayurveda, but I didn't say specifically with frankincense.

Tina: 9:09

I think that, there's a ton of crossover between the two, between the frankincense and the boswellia. Especially when it comes to anti inflammatory and anti arthritic effects.

Leah: 9:19

So frankincense specifically, is there anything, um, Are there studies specific to frankincense and cancer

Tina: 9:26

one of them that I remember very well. was frankincense used, uh, as a cheek swab. So they took frankincense essential oil, and I don't think they, I don't know if they used a carrier oil with it or not, but they would put it inside people's mucous membranes inside their mouths, on their cheeks, to elicit an anti inflammatory effect systemically. I have to say one caveat whenever we talk about plants is allergies are always possible. So a contact allergy is possible with absolutely any plant. So people have to make sure before they go using any plant substance that, they don't have an allergy to it, especially if they're highly allergic people, you know, if you already have, you know, grasses and trees and such, then just make sure you're not allergic to the very plant you think is helping you out.

Leah: 10:09

I think like we mentioned with Murrah, there are studies looking at frankincense oil, various cell studies, looking at frankincense essential oil and, um, the effect on different cancer cells like melanoma. Um, but again, that's so different than a human study.

Tina: 10:27

Yeah.

Leah: 10:28

Cause I think like in the, in the kind of multi level marketing, essential oil world,

Tina: 10:34

Mm hmm.

Leah: 10:35

uh, frankincense is really pushed as anti cancer

Tina: 10:38

Probably because of its strong anti inflammatory effect, right? Cause it, Has an effect on NF kappa B. NF kappa B is that mechanism that they often write about. People might be familiar with that, that acronym, NF kappa B. It stands for nuclear factor kappa B, and that it's blocking in a very influential inflammatory pathway within the cells. And it does do that. Frankincense does that. Boswellic acid does that. Um, even some of the other, terpenes, which are the, the menthols and eugenols and pinene, all these other compounds in the frankincense essential oil. They all are strong, uh, inhibitors. That said, that boswellic acid is probably the most well proven one and you can get it more easily. Cost effectively from the Boswellia plant than you can from the frankincense essential oil, but the one thing I will say this the one time I use frankincense in my practice. I would use frankincense the most for people with brain tumors.

Leah: 11:42

because there wasn't, there were studies showing that it reduced, edema in the brain, but it doesn't reduce tumor size. So swelling, swelling in the brain.

Tina: 11:51

Yeah, so Boswellic acids in particular so Boswellia and very high dose by the way, it was taken in a very very high dose So if you can't swallow that many capsules of Boswellia, then it's hard to get the dose You need to lower brain swelling but there was a study So that was part of it. And also because there's only so many capsules you can take in a day, I would often just have people get a diffuser and put frankincense in their diffuser, their aromatherapy, and inhale it because the fastest way to the brain. is through your olfactory bulb. So if you inhale the diffusion of this in the air, you basically, you're making a vapor, the vapor particles hold some of the frankincense essential oil, and you On them. And you're inhaling it through your nose. In particular, you can go directly to the brain, you can, you're basically delivering whatever you're inhaling is being delivered very close to, or directly into the brain, you can consider, consider it. So I often have people do that and I also had people put it. You know, on their cheek, just take a drop, put it on their

Leah: 12:55

On the inside of the mouth, the inside of the mouth. Yeah. Not like on the outside cheek on the mucous membranes.

Tina: 13:01

Yes. Inside on the mucosa. Mm. Yeah, and it seemed to be very helpful for that. My one caveat to all aromatherapy and essential oils and diffusers is, they can be very, rather drying to tissues. So, um, I did have a patient who thought more was better, and just set up a, like a, diffuser overnight, every night, and had, and I don't think this was with frankincense, but this was another essential oil they had kind of in the air, and they used enough of it that, It ended up kind of just drying them out because, uh, essential oils can have that effect if you do, if you inhale too much of them.

Leah: 13:34

Yeah, and I think people tend to do that. I think people tend to, when, you know, it's that typical thing of it says like two to three drops or however many drops it says. And I think as humans, we just like to really ramp it up and do more than you're supposed to. And yeah, I could see that being really irritating.

Tina: 13:52

Yes, they all can irritate the GI lining too. So if, some people Take those essential oils, especially some of these companies that sell essential oils, advocate for people to put them in capsules and swallow them,

Leah: 14:03

Yeah.

Tina: 14:04

can cause gastritis for a lot of folks. So, so you do have to be careful not to take in too much.

Leah: 14:10

Yeah. And I would caution against anyone who is in treatment, taking any essential oils internally Because of that, because of potential for gastritis and then potential for interactions with medications, because they are so strong. They're so powerful that, um, I just mean like essential oils in general. I'm not saying like in a, like in a healing sense, them being so powerful. I just mean like, I mean, you're just taking like pure straight you know, so just being really careful because they have been shown to interact with a lot of different, um, pathways that medications are metabolized. So yeah, I typically advise my patients not to do internal essential oils, you know, especially if it's coming from something that it's, it's not from somebody who knows what they're doing. And I don't necessarily think that a lot of those, MLM places are authorities on taking internal essential oils. I mean, a lot of aromatherapists are very like cautious about that too. So, you know, people who are trained and certified in that,

Tina: 15:14

Yes. Yes.

Leah: 15:16

we've talked about this before, so I don't want to like go back into it, but

Tina: 15:19

No, it's important to work with someone who's been trained in it and whenever there's anything that's powerful medicine, whether it's aromatherapy, which can be a powerful medicine or, essential oils, botanical medicine, you just make sure the person you're working with is well trained because it means that you have to be careful, you know, not everything is that's natural is safe. So just have to work with the folks who know what they're doing. And then, then it's safe because they can give you the cautionaries. So I'm trying to think if there's anything else. We mentioned anti inflammatory, pain relief, analgesic. So pain relieving properties are, are well known for frankincense. Um, like you said, you were using for neuropathy. I think that was a topical pain relief, right.

Leah: 16:05

Yeah. And honestly, I don't remember if it was helpful. I was doing so much, but, um, it was just one more thing. That I added in,

Tina: 16:15

Yeah,

Leah: 16:16

you know, and just, just massaging my feet in general was helpful. So, but yeah, I was trying everything and I just thought, well, you know, let's, let's see if that works.

Tina: 16:25

mm hmm. And like you mentioned, it has some direct anti cancer properties, but it tends to be in a dish, which is not shocking. Most essential oils are gonna have some effect in a dish because they're so strong. Um, I did come across, and I think this still is anti inflammatory, they're using it at least in preliminary Data for neurodegeneration. I think this goes back to getting an anti inflammatory effect in the brain. Um, but they're using it for Alzheimer's, dementia, that kind of thing, to, uh, lessen the neurodegeneration from disease states. So that's pretty preliminary. That's not, there's no great outcome studies, but it does make intuitive sense that if you lower neuro inflammation, you will improve brain function and maybe even lessen anxiety because anxiety is also can be an inflammatory state.

Leah: 17:14

there was a study looking at, um, cancer related fatigue in frankincense oil.

Tina: 17:19

Mm.

Leah: 17:20

it was a small study, like 70 something people, and they did not find any statistically significant changes in fatigue in the group. That was using the essential oil. Oh, well, the study wasn't even using it as like aromatherapy. They were applying it to their feet. So.

Tina: 17:39

So they were applying the essential oil to their feet for cancer related fatigue.

Leah: 17:43

Mm hmm twice a day two days before receiving chemotherapy while receiving chemotherapy in two days after but they didn't find any significant

Tina: 17:52

And they didn't combine that with others. It was just frankincense.

Leah: 17:55

Mm hmm

Tina: 17:56

But that's not a traditional use, so I guess it's not that surprising.

Leah: 17:59

Yeah, yeah at first I thought the study was about losing it as like actually like an inhalation But no it was applied to the feet, but I wonder what their neuropathy was like

Tina: 18:09

This is a good question. Yeah. Yeah.

Leah: 18:12

They weren't tired, but they had no neuropathy

Tina: 18:15

I mean, it's interesting because topically, I know that it's been used for wound healing, right? And scar reduction. That's a traditional use for frankincense. It's also antibacterial, so it might limit the infection risk. The essential oils themselves are, are Strong enough to never put on a open wound or open skin without a carrier oil. So you'd have to dilute it a lot to put it on a cut or an abrasion. Um, so it might be part of a salve or part of a Of an oil. But if You put a drop of pure essential oil on a cut, it would not be helpful. That it's too caustic. It would actually probably harm it. It would probably not help wound healing. You'd have to put it in a carrier oil, like almond or olive or something, a drop in a teaspoon, a drop in a tablespoon. Like you'd have to really dilute it. Then it might have some effect. You know, that's, it's one of the things we should talk about more often is dosing. I'm a, I'm a big, you know, um, I talk a lot about dosing with patients, like a dose makes the difference. You know, a little bit of vitamin C is anti oxidative, but intravenous vitamin C is actually an oxidant at the opposite effect in huge doses. So we always have to keep in mind dose makes a huge difference in a given natural medicine is going to do or is expected to do. So in the case of essential oils, very seldom do you use them without diluting them. Maybe in a diffuser is the only time I can think of that. I. would do it or if people put it one drop on the inside of their cheek. That's it.

Leah: 19:47

You wouldn't dilute it for, when putting it in your mouth.

Tina: 19:51

No, mostly for ease of use, um, because most of the time people can just put one drop, you know, on their cheek. And I usually do the cheek, not under the tongue because the cheek can handle it, but under the tongue is, is more tender tissue. So, just like tinctures, I don't have people go under the tongue for that either. And

Leah: 20:12

one thing that is really interesting is that frankincense and myrrh have been looked at, those essential oils have been looked at together for, neuropathy. I was reading some of the studies that they do on mice and I just, I couldn't read them, it was a little gruesome for me, but they were doing mouse studies looking at the effect, um, to help with. With various types of pain, so, um, and there are diabetic foot creams and stuff that you can find at like your local drugstore that have these essential oils in them. What I find is that sometimes they also have homeopathy in them, and that just seems weird and random because if you learn about homeopathy, you'll learn you're not supposed to like, expose it to strong scents, and then they mix in like, Arnica! With frankincense and myrrh and peppermint and all these really, really random things. So anyways, that's an aside. But yeah, you can find these formulas, which I'm sure I have recommended to patients in the past who've had neuropathy who are just kind of trying everything topical.

Tina: 21:15

as you mentioned earlier, Boswellia, the plant that frankincense is is It's often used as an anti inflammatory. So I wonder if some of the effects of the myrrh frankincense together are also just having a net anti inflammatory effect.

Leah: 21:30

But I also think that because peppermint's been looked at topically because the menthol affects certain, pain receptors. And so those properties within the frankincense, and Marie said that the frankincense has, um, you know, menthol properties in it, and then there's the whole thing about all the terpenes and all of that kind of, I mean, all of that stuff, I'm not that well versed, but, um, or versed at all. So I don't know. I, I think it's kind of a, a cool thing. The frankincense. And the mer together. I mean, just because that's how they're known historically. I mean, they've been used that way as Mutuals for a really long time. So yeah, maybe there's something to it

Tina: 22:08

Yeah, that's true. Maybe they, maybe one plus one doesn't equal two. Maybe it equals three or four or five.

Leah: 22:13

or maybe one plus one equals one

Tina: 22:16

Ooh. Deep.

Leah: 22:17

Hmm. Thank you

Tina: 22:20

All right. So let's summarize. Mm

Leah: 22:23

been used for thousands of years in traditional cultures. It's been used in religious ceremonies, in funeral, um, oh, we didn't mention that, but it is. It's used in like funeral, funereal ceremonies. yeah, it goes well with myrrh. It's anti inflammatory.

Tina: 22:43

Uh huh. That's a big claim to fame. Mm hmm.

Leah: 22:45

Yep.

Tina: 22:46

And in the cancer world, probably most used as an anti inflammatory substance in general and brain tumors and edema, which is a swelling around the brain that's been used quite a bit for in high doses.

Leah: 23:00

Yeah, and I believe people even used less steroids in the study. It's like, people required less, fewer steroids. So,

Tina: 23:11

Yes, which is, that's when you want to be working closely with someone because that is not something you want to fool around with. Steroids and brain swelling is not something anyone should tackle on their own. That needs to be watched carefully and in conjunction with the prescribing doctor because, uh, it is possible to, to find ways to limit, if not eliminate steroids. for some people who have brain swelling, but not everybody. And it has to be done really carefully and with a lot of attention to detail. Um, So, don't ever try that on your own. Cause that could be really I mean, dangerous to do without guidance.

Leah: 23:47

oh, yeah, don't do anything that we say on your own. Don't do anything that we say

Tina: 23:50

Yeah, Leia's more, like, you're more conservative than me. I only say it when it's like, oh no, you're going to hurt yourself. Like this is, this is big. Yeah.

Leah: 23:58

I say it all the

Tina: 23:59

You say it so, it's like, it's like the boy who cries wolf when you say it. Everyone's like, yeah, yeah, but that's just Leia

Leah: 24:05

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Okay, if you like what you hear regardless of my saying don't do it or not. you can uh Follow us on social media. We're on instagram and twitter Facebook sporadically. and we have a membership through buy me a coffee and you can find that through our website. And that's because we don't really want to be influenced by advertisers in any way. And so we need to be able to pay for all of the things that running a podcast entails, like the things thing that we're recording on right now.

Tina: 24:49

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Leah: 24:50

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Tina: 25:01

Yeah. So. If you do join our membership, you will have access to us. We can't give any medical information, but we can give general information. We can answer your questions.

Leah: 25:11

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Tina: 25:21

so check it out. And our website is thecancerpod. com.

Leah: 25:25

that note, I'm Dr. Leah Sherman

Tina: 25:27

And I'm Dr. Tina Kaczor

Leah: 25:29

and this is the Cancer Pod.

Tina: 25:31

Until next time.

Leah: 25:31

Thanks for listening to the cancer pod. Remember to subscribe, review and rate us wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on social media for updates, and as always, this is not medical advice. These are our opinions. Talk to your doctor, but for changing anything related to your treatment plan. The cancer pod is hosted by me, Dr. Leah Sherman. And by Dr. Tina Kaczor music is by Kevin See you next time.